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Saline County, Mo. health department creates new emergency plan

The health department in Saline County, Missouri, presented a new emergency operation plan to the county's board of trustees on Tuesday for dealing with anthrax exposure.

The original anthrax exposure plan included the creation of one point of distribution for the whole county. Russ Donnell, the coordinator of the local emergency planning committee, presented a new plan to create three closed points of distribution and open distribution points throughout the county, the Marshall Democrat-News reports.

The closed distribution points would be at Cargill Meat Solutions, Missouri Valley College and Fitzgibbon Hospital. The open distribution points would be at pharmacies in Saline County and would provide countermeasures for the rest of the county, according to the Marshall Democrat-News.

Donnell said that the new plan would make the vaccination process more efficient and comprehensive in the event of a pandemic event such as anthrax exposure, KMMO reports.

The new plan would provide the closed distribution points with their own medication stockpiles for their patients and students. This would leave approximately 18,000 county residents unvaccinated. The pharmacies would be responsible for vaccinating the other residents within 48 hours.

Donnell said he reached agreements with two pharmacies in the area and that more will be added in the next few weeks and months, KMMO reports.